Miller, R. DeWitt – “Swenson, Dispatcher” (1955)

07/13/2014

Once again, drunken irrationality (this time in the form of a spaceship dispatcher), turns out to be the only way to deal with modern life. Swenson (, dispatcher) is hired on at the ragtag Acme Interplanetary Express in a pan-American solar system, and while at first he seems to be a drunken buffoon, it turns out that he’s a drunken miracle-worker, guiding Acme’s ships through a series of hijinks involving blustering Senators on the Moon and shipments of snuff and a rival mega-corporation. Like the Robinson, the narrative stumbles forward in oddly and ineffectually.